The Great Impostor (1961)
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Synopsis of The Great Impostor
The Great Impostor is the true story of chameleonlike Canadian Ferdinand Waldo DeMara Jr., well-played by Tony Curtis. Unable to decide what he wants to do with his life, DeMara goes about pretending to be other people, hoping to eventually "find himself." He poses as a Harvard professor, a Trappist monk, a prison warden, and a navy physician, and manages each time to get away with the artifice. The film wavers uncertainly between tense drama and frothy comedy, with comedy finally winning out. Karl Malden co-stars as Father Devlin, the young DeMara's spiritual advisor, while Joan Blackman is the nominal (and hardly visible) heroine. The real Ferdinand DeMara (if indeed there was a real Ferdinand DeMara) can be seen in a supporting role in the 1960 melodrama The Hypnotic Eye. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Complete Cast of The Great Impostor
- Tony Curtis - Ferdinand Waldo Demara, Jr.
- Arthur O'Connell - Warden Chandler
- Joan Blackman - Cathy Lacey
- Robert Middleton - Brown
- Sue Ane Langdon - Eulalie
- Mike Kellin - Thompson
- Cindi Wood - WAC Lieutenant
- Ward Ramsey - Executive Officer Howard
- Herbert Rudley - Senior Officer
- Harry Carey, Jr. - Dr. Joseph Mornay
- Karl Malden - Father Devlin
- Dick Sargent - Hotchkiss
- Edmond O'Brien - Capt. Glover
- Gary Merrill - Demara Sr.
- Raymond Massey - Abbott Donner
- Jeanette Nolan - Ma Demara
- Larry Gates - Cardinal
- Frank Gorshin - Barney
- Doodles Weaver - Farmer
- Philip Ahn - Hun Kin
- Jerry Paris - Defense Lieutenant
- Willard Sage - Lt. Thorton
- Robert Crawford, Jr. - Demara as a Boy
- David White
- Director(s):
- Robert Mulligan
- Writer(s):
- Liam O'Brien
- Producer(s):
- Robert Arthur
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